Two best shooters on team

[Big4Dawg]

Interest note from Howland:
Because I see him (Ready) and Malik playing a lot at the same time because those are our two best shooters, probably. Fred (Thomas) would be the other guy in the conversation and maybe Johnny (Zuppardo) in terms of perimeter shooting and Q is a good perimeter shooter. But bottom line, Malik and I.J. are two of our better shooters and they are both point guards.

From 247 interview.

Also mentioned that when IJ and Malik are on floor together, Malik will run the point and IJ will play the 2G, but on D, IJ will guard the PG and Malik the SG.

[chef dixon]

Weatherspoon can shoot better than anyone who played on our team last year.

[thf24]

Interesting indeed. I feel like IJ's problem has always been that he's a little timid as a scorer and looks to defer as the PG. Maybe he'll feel more comfortable being aggressive from the 2.

[Coach34]

Weatherspoon can shoot better than anyone who played on our team last year.

Well obviously not better than IJ at this point per Howland

[PSYCHO(thesis)DEFENSE]

Assuming Chicken is resting when this lineup is in, I'd love to see D Houston playing the 3 w/ these two. That lineup needs a slasher/rebounder to let Malik work his mid-range game & allow IJ to use his quickness to get open for the kick-out. Houston should be great going towards the rim, providing the oop to Malik's alley, while I'd rather save Fred to be the kick-out guy for the Malik/Chicken 1/2 combo.

[Ifyouonlyknew]

Weatherspoon can shoot better than anyone who played on our team last year.

Q is a streaky shooter not a pure shooter.

[chef dixon]

Well obviously not better than IJ at this point per Howland

You have to be taller than Ready to get your shot up, right?

[chef dixon]

Q is a streaky shooter not a pure shooter.

You could argue that's enough to take that title.

[JDog13]

Donald Gray and BJ Hammond.

[Rayburn8]

You have to be taller than Ready to get your shot up, right?

Stephan Moody says high. That guy is shorter than IJ.

IJ will be fine as a shooter, guys his size generally create space to shoot, not shoot over people. Ex. Steph Curry(not that I think IJ will be anywhere on Curry's stratosphere.)

[Ifyouonlyknew]

You could argue that's enough to take that title.

Howland is having to fix Q's shot just like they are doing with Fred. I'm not saying Q is a bad shooter he's just not consistent.

[chef dixon]

Stephan Moody says high. That guy is shorter than IJ.

IJ will be fine as a shooter, guys his size generally create space to shoot, not shoot over people. Ex. Steph Curry(not that I think IJ will be anywhere on Curry's stratosphere.)

Meant to be sarcastic, should have put the ****, sorry

[Dawg61]

Howland is having to fix Q's shot just like they are doing with Fred. I'm not saying Q is a bad shooter he's just not consistent.

Going to be difficult to fix Fred with only one year left

[Coach34]

Going to be difficult to fix Fred with only one year left

Fred shot 34.3% from 3 last year...not that much to fix to get him around 40%- especially the way he has improved every year

[Schultzy]

And I bet Howland's half court offense gets these guys more open looks, Ready should get more of them just for being on the court at the same time as Malik.

Actually Sword had some periods where he shot the 3 ball well last year, although that's not what we will be asking him to do a lot of I'm sure.

[Brad Stevens]

Stephan Moody says high. That guy is shorter than IJ.

IJ will be fine as a shooter, guys his size generally create space to shoot, not shoot over people. Ex. Steph Curry(not that I think IJ will be anywhere on Curry's stratosphere.)

Take your maroon glasses off. Moody jumps over people to shoot. I love IJ, but he does not have that skill set. Neither can he create his shot. He excels at open spot-up shots (which I think is what Howland was getting at, by allowing Malik to play pg, to drive and kick).

I also think Sword is a better shooter, but Sword has been kept out of everything due to his back issues. Hate on it if you must, but I think this is an attempt to give Ready some confidence by bragging on him to the media. It seems to be Howland's attempt to get IJ to buy into his backup role. I would put money that the Malik/Ready guard combo is not the predominant guard combo we will see this season.

[messageboardsuperhero]

And I bet Howland's half court offense gets these guys more open looks, Ready should get more of them just for being on the court at the same time as Malik.

Actually Sword had some periods where he shot the 3 ball well last year, although that's not what we will be asking him to do a lot of I'm sure.

Sword and Thomas both shot 35-40% from three in SEC play last year- they're going to be alright.

We actually shot 35% from three as a team in SEC play. Our problem last year (and every year of the Rick Ray era) was how damn inept we were at handling/possessing the ball and getting good shots off- when we did get them off we knocked them down.

[Ifyouonlyknew]

Take your maroon glasses off. Moody jumps over people to shoot. I love IJ, but he does not have that skill set. Neither can he create his shot. He excels at open spot-up shots (which I think is what Howland was getting at, by allowing Malik to play pg, to drive and kick).

I also think Sword is a better shooter, but Sword has been kept out of everything due to his back issues. Hate on it if you must, but I think this is an attempt to give Ready some confidence by bragging on him to the media. It seems to be Howland's attempt to get IJ to buy into his backup role. I would put money that the Malik/Ready guard combo is not the predominant guard combo we will see this season.

Chicken is doing everything now except contact drills so he's shooting with everybody else. Malik/IJ won't be the primary backcourt but we will see plenty of it.

[Coach34]

Chicken is doing everything now except contact drills so he's shooting with everybody else. Malik/IJ won't be the primary backcourt but we will see plenty of it.

I want to see us go 3 guards for a few mins here and there. Ready, Malik, and Sword should be able to get us some open shots

[Dawg61]

One potential downside to having both IJ and MN in the game at the same time is that there's no PG resting. We are thin here already. Just one injury at PG hurts bad.

[Big4Dawg]

I would bet money we will always have at least Malik and Ready at the court 100% of the times. No worries.

[Ifyouonlyknew]

One potential downside to having both IJ and MN in the game at the same time is that there's no PG resting. We are thin here already. Just one injury at PG hurts bad.

There would never be a second where Chicken or Malik aren't on the court so Malik & IJ are going to play together some.

[Johnson85]

One potential downside to having both IJ and MN in the game at the same time is that there's no PG resting. We are thin here already. Just one injury at PG hurts bad.

You have to remember Malik is going to play well over half the game, so there will be plenty of time to play Ready and Malik together while also ensuring one of them is at the point for all meaningful minutes. If you didn't play them together, you'd really be limiting Ready's playing time.

[PMDawg]

Michael Brown and Quinton Wesley? Too soon?